Birthday musings

A few milestones passed this week, and with a few big work deadlines past me, I can finally write about them.

July 15 was the second anniversary of my getting laid off from the Business Journal. As devastating as it was at the time, I’m happy to report that I’m better off financially and career-wise now than I was the day before the layoff.

As of this month, I’m free of long-term credit card debt, which was about $12,000 two years ago. And I have built up the recommended emergency savings of about four months worth of expenses vs. no savings at all two years ago. Now I can focus on saving for a home and retirement investing. I was laid off from a weekly, local newspaper with a sub-10,000 circulation. Now I work for a national daily with a circulation of almost 300,000. I’m making less money than I was — which kind of sucks in this housing market — but I’m better exposed and poised for bigger positions than I was before. And it’s nice to have tech firms scrambling to get MY attention for a change.

July 19 was my birthday, and I’m officially kicked out of the 18-34 age group. Which is probably appropriate, since I don’t watch much TV anymore or throw around money. I can see why advertisers don’t like old people. One of Andrea’s gifts was a computer game, if you can believe that. It’s the first PC-related gift she’s ever bought me.

And July 20 is the 35th anniversary of the moon landing. Still no rocket car. Sigh.